Ashok Leyland Limited has declared fairly impressive results for the quarter ended March 2018. In fact, the financial year 2018 saw the company registering record revenues, profits and volumes.

Still, the stock is on a trip down south today, with investors pressing sales at the counter, venting their dissapointment at the company’s operating margin falling short of expectations.

Ashok Leyland shares declined to a low of Rs 133.60 on BSE, before edging up slightly to Rs 135.40, still down 8.7% from previous closing price. On the National Stock Exchange, the stock is down 9% at Rs 135.10 at present.

On NSE, the Ashok Leyland counter has clocked a volume of about 47.75 million shares so far in the session today. On BSE, the counter has clocked a volume of about 7.68 million shares so far in the session, more than ten times the average daily volume of 7.4 lakh shares.

A few minutes before the closing bell on Friday, Ashok Leyland came out with its results. The company reported a net profit of Rs 1563 crore for the financial year ended March 2018, up 28% compared to its net profit in the preceding year. The company posted record revenues of Rs 26,248 crore in the year.

The EBITDA margin for the financial year 2017-18 was 10.4%. The board of directors of the company recommended a dividend of Rs 2.43 per share.

Ashok Leyland saw a volume growth of 12% in the Medium, Heavy, Commercial Vehicles Industry, to over 3.40 lakh units in the financial year ended March 2018, according to data from SIAM.

Ashok Leyland’s volumes grew by 14% to 1,16,534 units in 2017-18 in the domestic market. Exports grew 36% in
the fiscal.

In the fourth quarter of financial year 2017-18, Ashok Leyland recorded revenues of Rs 8772 crore, up 32% compared to year-ago quarter revenue of Rs 6654 crore. Profit before exceptional item and tax jumped 52% to Rs 930 crore. Net profit was up 40% in the fourth quarter, at Rs 667 crore.

In the fourth quarter, the company saw sales volume growth of 15% to 44,425 units. In the light commercial vehicles segment, volume grew 59%.

During financial year 2017-18, Ashok Leyland posted its highest ever MHCV domestic truck sales and recorded highest ever LCV volumes. The company launched the country’s first electric bus with battery swap technology during the year and launched 17 new products across different segments.

Besides the slightly lower then expected increase in fourth quarter revenues and net profit, the stock’s fall today is also due to concerns about truck volume growth in the current financial year. It is feared that the company’s volume gowth may suffer due to partial overloading ban relaxation in Uttar Pradesh since April 2018.